CPAacademy.org Check-In | Episode 8: Bonnie Ruszczyk

Matt

Well, thank you. I'm excited to be here with Bonnie Ruszczyk someone who I've known in the accounting space. I can't believe I've known Bonnie for a decade. Yeah, where did the time go?

Bonnie Ruszczyk

We're old Matt.

Matt

Oh, that's what it is. Okay. All right. I didn't want to say that. Well, you know, usually when we're having conversations, it's you asking me how you can help me. And I usually have a lot of things to say. So I'm excited to talk with you today, because I get to ask you questions and learn a little bit more, and share that out with the accounting space. So thanks in advance, for your time. I'm sure most people in professional services know who you are and what you're capable of doing. But, you know, just wanted to ease into that. For those who perhaps don't. You have had a variety of roles and jobs, international media companies health and fitness startups, auto parts company. But what ultimately focused focus too, on serving professional service firms?

Bonnie Ruszczyk

Yeah, I have definitely had a number of jobs, though, this one now has definitely been my longest tenure anywhere. Which probably goes to prove that I don't work as well with others, as I probably should. But yeah, I have been in a number of different fields, always marketing role. But you know, like you said, I was in television, I was in my first job for an auto parts company. And you know, a number of different things. But my last job before starting BBR was as the marketing director for an accounting firm. And one of the biggest challenges I faced in that role was finding outside resources that understood how accounting is different than product marketing, or even more traditional service marketing and that you're not selling a widget or, you know, a haircut. what you're doing is you're selling things that are kind of more amorphous in the idea of expertise and trust and a relationship. So it's a very different marketing challenge. So when I wound up leaving that firm, I decided to try and become that resource for specifically mostly for accounting firms, but also professional services firms in general, and be that person who could help them from the outside, create that messaging, read those marketing plans and do things like websites and all the other things that come under that marketing umbrella.

Matt

Amazing and obviously BBR has grown in so many ways and you know, talking about your your focus in that way for CPAs what inspired you to work with your partner Katie Tolan informing Rally Rounds, and then Rally Rounds obviously a lot of exposure there. But you guys are facilitating mastermind groups just for CPAs.

Bonnie Ruszczyk

Yeah, um, that was kind of a Kismet moment. In that Katie and I have known each other forever. We we've been in the same space for more than a decade. And talk from time to time just to catch up and share what we're learning and things like that. So really, we came to this idea of creating mastermind groups for growth focused accountants, or those in the accounting profession. Separately, and then I had a conversation mentioned to each other, and we're like, Well, why don't we just do this together? So we started this, I think it was about four years ago. 

And part of it is just the idea that marketers and business developers and those kind of in the growth space and accounting firms are often islands. Or, you know, you think about your soul or just a small group of right brains and a sea of left brains. So, you know, we like this idea of creating this group that where there was accountability, where there was regular check ins where it was regular meetings with the same people to kind of try and make them feel like they're part of a community and help each other when they're facing issues. Or just I have a question that my partner said this, has anybody dealt with that? And often it's good and sometimes it's challenging, but it's just some of those conversations are just phenomenal.

And I I'll speak for myself, but I also know can't I mean, we just love it. It's something that, you know, we're not going to buy any fancy cars or anything on the revenue made from these, but we just feel like we're in some ways giving back to the profession that's been really good to us.

Matt

That's amazing. That's amazing. I'm well, you know, speaking of being good to the profession, a lot of people have benefited from your expertise in probably countless immeasurable ways. I mean, you literally wrote the book on online marketing, for accountants. So that's, you know, no undersell there. But from that, what's something you tend to see firms not quite getting right, when it comes to reaching potential clients?

Bonnie Ruszczyk

I think we could probably talk a lot on this topic. But I think one of the biggest things I see is firms not figuring out exactly who their ideal audience is, and trying to sell all things to all people, happens quite a bit. And speaking, the same language.  So, you know, we've, many conversations have taken place where if you were to take five, average accounting firm websites and change the logos out, it would really be very, very, very similar. Trying to identify who that audience is, and then speak their language. 

Another thing I see a lot is, in any sort of communication firms are always talking about themselves. And this is what we do. And these are the services we provide, without thinking about, or certainly as much the, what is the benefit that brings to the client. So let's talk about that first. And then or these are the challenges you have, this is how we can solve that, or bringing us in will make this better about your life. Rather than talking about your, you know, Audit Services, or whatever really technical kind of language it is, people don't necessarily care how a job gets done. They want to know how it's going to how it's going to impact them. So kind of talking in that way. 

And I would say the other thing, I guess, for more tactical point of view is not paying attention to your website. Your website is your front door more so than your literal front door. So everybody think about you know, when you're going to try a new restaurant, or go into a hotel, or whatever that might be, you're gonna go check it out online and see what other people are saying, or learn more about it, or do they have, I don't know, a shower and a bath in the hotel room, you know, whatever it is you like. And people are doing the exact same thing with accounting firms. So if your site looks dated, or it's not up to date, or they don't see something on there that speaks to them, they're gonna go to somebody else, because there's plenty of options out there. So making sure that that particularly your website, but all your communication should be updated, but your website's really the one biggest thing where people are gonna go learn about your firm.

Matt

That's great, even in this day and age. 

Bonnie Ruszczyk

Yeah, all the other options out there, that website leads the way.

I wanted to pivot to, you know, another area of of your expertise and maybe it's not too far different from you know, talking about the firm and standing for for who you are, and putting the message out there. Would you mind talking a little bit about what you do to help firms with diversity, equity and inclusion topics, and that can be you know, creating processes or shifting cultures, anything in that area, which I know you have a big focus on.

Bonnie Ruszczyk

Yeah, um, this is this is kind of something that's very near and dear to my heart personally. And that's frankly, why I decided to pursue this as something that I help firms with but what I do is really different for each firm. For some, I've gone in and done training on topics like unconscious bias, or even simply defining the terms associated with dei so everybody's kind of singing from the same songbook and understands what terms are that they you hear I'm tossed around a lot but aren't may not be totally sure what they mean. 

And, you know, for others, it is working with them about getting a DEI program started or helping them identify what is most important for their firm and how they're going to measure progress. So, you know, like anything else, if you're not measuring it, you don't know Oh, hello, you're doing. 

And the other thing I definitely talk a lot about is that a lot of times firms will focus on the diversity side of that, before they focus on the inclusion side of that, and in my opinion, and that of a number of people at sort of backwards, in that, I can't tell you how many conversations I've had with firm administrators or people at firms where they say, you know, we really made an effort to hire more black accountants or women or whatever group it is that they're talking about. And they stay for a couple of years, and they left, so we're not doing that anymore. And, you know, my first question is always well, how included do you think these new hires felt in your culture and at your firm, you know, have you done things so that everybody kind of has a seat at the table, and feels that they are treated equally and respectfully, and not expected to necessarily assimilate into an environment at the cost of not being their true selves. 

So there's a lot of things that you kind of need to do to focus and create a really inclusive culture. And then you fill that culture with people that are from every walk of life out there. will tell you one other thing, I'm actually currently working with a firm, where I conducted a confidential employee survey around dei topics, and presented the findings to the leaders, and now we're doing a whole lot of training. So over the next few months, so it's interesting, and I, it's, you know, it is common, it's just human nature to want to know what people said, and who said what, and that sort of thing, but I am very, very careful to protect the identities of employees, because that never really goes anywhere good. And, yeah, it's it's just fascinating, you know, what, what we learn from this process, and how it can have a real impact on how firms do their work, and how well they succeed.

Matt

Can you tell us a little bit more about the Accounting MOVE Project, and its impact on the profession, aside from the fact that you can find courses on CPAacademy that support the project?

Bonnie Ruszczyk

Yeah, I am, honored joining Joanne Cleaver, who started the Accounting MOVE Project back in 2010. So we're talking about 13 years ago, and has done it every year, since she started, it approached me a little over a year ago about taking it over. And she has a number of things going on and needed to kind of carve off something and make sure it had a good home. So I was really honored to have this opportunity. 

It is basically you know, measures both demographic data and workplace culture to understand and identify what works to advance women and other underrepresented groups in the firm leadership. So hopefully, we all kind of feel this way. But you know, what is good for women in general is actually good for everyone, and creates firms with much more flexibility but it doesn't matter if you're a woman or a man if you need time off or need to focus on an elderly parent or a child or whatever it is, you know, having these this culture where it's it's okay to do that is very important. 

So, what we we look at what firms are doing right? We share best practices. We do create an annual best CPA firms for women and best CPA firms for Equity Leadership list that we release every October in collaboration with the women who count conference. But I think where MOVE is different than other best places to work list is that interview process. Everybody has a long survey that you know is just frustrating to fill out sometimes it just is very time consuming. But there's a lot of information you have to gather. But we go the extra step of actually interviewing firms and talking to them about their culture. And it's around, in particular, the four MOVE elements, which move stands for money, opportunity, vital supports, and entrepreneurship. 

And then we also have a theme that we look at every year, this 2023 is kicking off, or like kicked off, and we're now releasing surveys. So, but we're going to be talking about career sustainability, as well as looking at firms, and how they have created some have customized or even part time partnership models. So people have with, you can't necessarily commit the, you know, however many hours they have to work as a partner, and that sort of thing can still grow and move into leadership roles, they may just do so and in a scaled way. So we're taking a look at firms how they're doing that. And I'm going to share that. In our report that we just released publicly on things that we've learned. 

The one other thing is that each firm that participates gets their own confidential, it's either a snapshot or scorecard which the main difference in those is the length and how much data is in it. But that talks about, you know, the things that they're doing really well, and how they can even build on that, or areas where they may want to concentrate a little bit more, and gives them a lot of specific best practices that other firms in their cohort have used to succeed in this area. So it's a lot, it covers a whole lot of ground, but the information is just outstanding. And we do have archives that go all the way back to 2010. On our website, so you can read the report for every single year if you want to.

Matt

And I'm sure to track some progress and some changes. So yeah, that's it continues to go on. 

Bonnie Ruszczyk

Yeah, I mean, it's kind of fun in a way, because, you know, there's a lot of talk now around pay equity, and pay equity audits and things like that. And, you know, move has been tracking that since 2010. And talking to firms that were doing that. So it's we've got a lot of history there and a lot of information that I think is could be very valuable.

Matt

So along those lines for those who were in CPA firms, and either leadership positions or not, what are your recommendations for ways to get involved with these types of initiatives? Initiatives like the Accounting MOVE Project in their own workplace?

Bonnie Ruszczyk

Yeah, um, well, if you're interested in MOVE, like I said, we are signing firms up right now. We'll be scheduling interviews for June and July-ish. You can go to https://accountingmoveproject.com/. There's tons of resources out there, I am always happy to talk to firms about how where they are now where they want to go and you know, give them some ideas on how they may get there. That web is part of my larger company https://bbrmarketing.com/. And then anybody that wants to know more about the mastermind groups, that's https://rallyrounds.com/

Matt

I appreciate it. Time flew by just like the last 10 years. I just want to say thank you. I appreciate everything you do for our profession and the numerous people you've reached directly through firms and by their through all of their clients and everyone else that touches so really important work and as always a pleasure speaking with you.

Bonnie Ruszczyk

Thank you so much, man. It's great talking to you too.

Matt

Thanks. Bye.